Short, but otherwise great modern arcade game.
The Bad: Way too short and easy. Not enough replay value.
Live Arcade is one of the best features about the Xbox 360. The ability to download casual games can't be over-emphasized. One of the best additions to the Arcade is Assault Heroes. This game is an original Live Arcade game that pays tribute to the classic top-down shooting games of the 80's and 90's. There's very little story to get in the way of the action, and that works to the game's advantage.
GAMEPLAY
You control one of two vehicles through out the game: a dune buggy, or a speedboat. Each vehicle has a machine gun, flamethrower, and cannon for weapons; in addition to grenades and screen clearing nuke. Each weapon can be upgraded three levels.
If your vehicle is destroyed, your soldier will have to fight on foot for a few seconds until a new one appears. There are also several underground levels where you fight on foot to earn new upgrades.
The controls are handled well with the dual analog sticks controlling movement and firing. The shoulder buttons cycle weapons, and the triggers throw grenades and set off your nuke. The enemies are widely varied, and certain weapons work better on one enemy than others.
GRAPHICS
The visuals are very well done for a Live Arcade game. In fact, with more polish, they could almost be on par with some $60 360 games. There's an undeniable "G.I. Joe" feel to the visuals and presentation. Everything about the visuals seems inspired from classic shooting games.
The bosses are huge, and widely varied. The levels are highly detailed, and you'll frequently noticed little touches like reflective water, destructible environments, and sea monsters swimming underwater. Very nice touches. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find anything wrong with the visuals.
SOUND
The sounds also take a lot of queues from classic shooting games. You'll hear some great sounding army beats. All the weapons sound unique, and have great effects that make you enjoy using them. Enemies also have unique visual queues, and sound great when they blow up. Unlike a lot of shooters, they're also no annoying "objective" voice-overs giving you instructions on what to do. It's all about the shooting.
VALUE
If you're a veteran of arcade shooters, you can probably beat this game in less than 2 hours. While that's not unusual for the genre, it is a little disappointing considering there's very little replay value once you've beaten the game. There's online and off-line co-op, but it's the same levels and enemies as the single player game. The achievements are well balanced, though.
An online, arena type death match mode would have been cool. Or maybe even a demolition derby with the vehicles. But with out any additional play modes, even this otherwise great arcade game can get old fast. With that said, Assault Heroes is still one of the best games on the Live Arcade. Just don't expect any huge time investment for your 800 points.